A Hogwarts Christmas Part Two: Myrtle
by Evan Mers
Summary: Myrtle is excited about spending the holiday with her best friend, but she can't help feeling sad that she's not alive for it.


Author's Note:

See my profile for any copyright information.

For every story in this Christmas series, the setting is slightly Alternate Universe (AU). These stories do not match up completely with the books. In these stories, Harry is in his 5th year at Hogwarts and the twins are in their 7th year, before they drop out.

Each part of this series has correspondent story on Alexifulamendris's profile, so go check them out! ( u/4462061/Alexifulamendris)

Myrtle levitated above her preferred toilet in the girl's bathroom on the first floor. She stared sadly at the toilet. No one had used that toilet in years because of her. The toilet could be said to belong to her, but she didn't like that. _Fourteen years of life and all I have to show for it is a transparent body and a toilet._ She began to cry. She had been surprised the first time she cried after becoming a ghost. She didn't think it would be possible. Of course, the ability to cry changed nothing; it was how she spent most of her free time alive too. _I have a lot of free time now._ She thought sadly for a moment, before remembering her plans with a friend that day. She immediately lifted her head and wiped her eyes. The tears instantly dried, but it was a force of habit. She even managed a smile. Today was not another boring and lonely day. It was Christmas and she would be spending the day with her best friend.

She floated through the stall door and over to a mirror. She wished she could change things about her appearance. She was tired of wearing her hair in pigtails. She had enjoyed them when she was alive, but she had been a teenager then. Of course, she still looked like a teen, but she felt older. If she had still been alive, she'd be 66 years old. That seemed disbelievingly old, but she had done the math many times for many years, counting her age higher and higher while her outer appearance remained the same. Most people still treated her like a fourteen year old. _I suppose that's better than being treated like I'm old and senile, but I also wish people would realize that I'm not a kid anymore._ She wished she could wear her hair down; perhaps people would treat her better. She frowned as she reminded herself that everyone would always think she was a kid. They couldn't help it; it's what they see when they look at her. She picked herself back up. _You will not be sad today!_ She silently told herself. _Today will be great. You'll see._

She quickly floated over towards her favorite toilet and dived into it. She knew she was splashing water all over the bathroom floor, but she didn't care. It was one of a few entertainments she was able to enjoy in her death.

The plumbing pipes were narrow, but it made no difference to her. _Happy thought number one: I would never have been able to fit in a pipe when I was alive._ Pipe transportation was much faster than walking through the huge castle. She made her way through the pipes, taking left or right turns every now and then. When she had first tried traveling through the pipes, she had been trying to go to the Prefects' bathroom to spy on unsuspecting boys, but had accidently ended up in the kitchen. Now she knew these pipes like the back of her hand.

She noticed that the water had stopped flowing and knew that she was already on the fifth floor. These pipes had been clogged for weeks. She could go through it, but it always felt like passing through fuzz. She hated it. But instead of a clog, there was light at the end of the pipe. _What's going on here?_ She wondered as she approached the end of the pipe. She peered into the room. It was another bathroom, but not the one belonging to Prefects, which she had been aiming for. She dismissed the other bathroom out of her mind and decided to focus on this one. _Are they finally fixing the clog?_ She hoped it was true. She entered the bathroom and realized that she was not alone. To her surprise, another ghost was in the room.

"Sir Nicholas." She gasped. She had hoped it was a teenage boy. She did enjoy to flirt. The fellow ghost turned to face her.

"Myrtle. What are you doing here?"

"I roam all of the bathrooms." She replied. "My presence here should not be that surprising, honestly. Your presence, however, is unexpected."

"I came in here to be alone for a while." He responded. _I understand that._ Myrtle thought.

"Look, little Myrtle, I'm having a party later tonight, during the Christmas feast. All of the castle's ghost are invited to come and enjoy their own feast." He nodded towards her, causing his head to fall onto his shoulder. He quickly fixed it. "That includes you, you know."

A shy smile crossed her lips. "Thank you, Sir Nicholas."

"Will you be attending?"

"Uh…" She had planned on skipping it as soon as he informed her of it, but perhaps the party might do her some good. Of course, if it had interfered with her already-formed plans for the day, she would have immediately declined. "I'll think about it." She left it at that.

An awkward moment of silence followed, until Sir Nicholas broke it. "They finally fixed the pipes, but I bet you noticed that already."

Myrtle nodded. "It's nice. The clog was very annoying." Another bout of silence ensued again. After a few moments, Myrtle was the first to speak. "Well, I've got to go now. I've a friend waiting for me. It was…nice to see you." It wasn't completely true, but the man did just invite her to a party. Most of the ghosts, including Sir Nicholas, viewed and treated Myrtle as a child and she loathed it.

He nodded again, this time catching his head before it hit his shoulder. "I hope to see you later tonight."

She forced a smile onto her face before slipping back into the pipes, this time heading toward the kitchen.

All of the house elves in the kitchen were busy at work. It's all they ever seemed to do: work. A few of them glanced her way when she appeared through the sink's faucet, but they didn't pause what they were doing for a second. One of them smiled at her and pointed further into the kitchen. They knew why she was there. She smiled and nodded in appreciation before making her way through the kitchen. She tried to avoid walking through the house elves. They were very kind to her.

"Myrtle." A familiar voice called. She looked in the direction it had come from. "'S good to see you." Hagrid was sitting at a table set for two a few feet away, a cup of tea sitting on his side of the table. She would have noticed him immediately if she hadn't been watching out for small house elves. She smiled as she made her way over to him. _Happy thought number two: I get to spend another Christmas with my best friend._

"Merry Christmas, Rubeus." She said, mimicking a sitting position in the seat opposite him. Ghosts couldn't actually sit on furniture, but she wanted to look as normal as possible.

"Merry Christmas to yeh, too." Hagrid responded. He examined her and she was grateful that he couldn't tell that she was blushing.

She had been looking forward to this moment for a week. Hagrid had been her best friend since they both attended Hogwarts as students. They were both large targets for bullies; him being three-times as large as any other student and her having a face covered in acne and topped off with a pair of glasses. Many students had assumed that because Hagrid was so large his brain must be the size of a pea. She didn't understand it. Hagrid was very intelligent. Most people took his large heart as stupidity. She had to admit that her friend had a habit of getting himself in difficult situations, but only because he cared too much about others, human or animal. He was one of the few people who honestly understood how it felt to be picked on by everyone. In fact, her murderer was the same man who had Hagrid unfairly expelled from the school. Dumbledore, another man that she respected and liked, graciously allowed fourteen-year-old Hagrid to stay on campus as Keeper of the Keys. He even allowed him to keep his wand hidden in an umbrella. As a ghost, she couldn't perform magic anymore, but she was very glad that Hagrid still had the ability. He was one the best wizards she had ever seen. He had been heartbroken to watch his precious wand snapped in half.

Hagrid had tried looking out for her by attempting to talk her out of ruining the wedding of Olive Hornby's brother. Olive had been the absolute worse out of all of her bullies and as soon as she became a ghost, she vowed to make her pay for it. It had been successful, to an extent. The wedding had been completely destroyed, cake everywhere, everyone in a panic. She had such fun doing it, but she immediately regretted it when Olive went to the Ministry of Magic to have her confined within the castle's walls. She had spent most of her time in Hagrid's hut previously. The confinement had ruined that. Olive Hornby always had to have the last word. She forced her mind to stop thinking about the past.

"How've yeh been, Myrtle?" Hagrid inquired.

"Oh, I've been good." She replied. "There have been plenty of girls crying in the bathrooms for me to tease." She smirked at that. She noticed him frowning and quickly made her face serious. "But really, Hagrid. I've been good." He brightened up. "They're fixing the pipes on the fifth floor, so getting around is a bit harder, but it will be nice to not have to pass through that fuzz." She had complained about the clog to him before.

"That's something."

"How have you been, Hagrid?"

"Oh, I've be'n well." He replied. "Be'n keeping an eye on me brother and Harry. Have ter go talk ter the giants again soon."

She hated when he had to trek all the way up the mountains to talk to the giants. They weren't very friendly to him. The first time he had returned from speaking to them, he had a large bruise across his cheek. She noticed it despite his best efforts to keep it hidden. She knew he didn't like making her worry about him.

She had never met his half-brother before and wished that she was able to leave the castle to meet him. Hagrid had told her quietly that Grawp was staying within the Forbidden Forest, deep enough so that any wandering students didn't accidently stumble upon him. She worried about that as well. If anyone found out about Hagrid bringing his brother onto the castle's grounds, a hysteria would most likely start. Parents would consider the school unsafe and Hagrid unfit to teach, let alone live on campus grounds.

They talked for a while, catching the other up on what had happened recently in their lives. Myrtle really enjoyed her talks with Hagrid, and she was sad that they didn't happen as often as they used to. They were just discussing what they would do next year to change their tradition up a bit, when suddenly the door to the kitchen banged open and a boy with violently purple hair entered the room in a hurry. She recognized him as one of the Weasley twins and wondered why his hair was different.

"Harry Potter's friend!" An elf exclaimed. Myrtle knew him. His name was Dobby, and he was the nicest house elf she had ever met. She noticed he was covered from head to toe in layers of hats, scarves, and socks. "George, is there something Dobby can do for you?" The elf asked eagerly. _So it's the calm twin._ Myrtle thought, slightly bitter. She enjoyed the playful twin more.

"I've got it, Dobby." The elf nodded and went back to work preparing food for that night's feast. The other elves seemed not to notice the purple-haired boy.

"George? Why are yeh in the kitchens?" Hagrid asked, standing up and making his way carefully to the boy.

George looked at him. "I could ask you the same thing, Hagrid." He seemed to notice Myrtle for the first time at that moment. "Merry Christmas, Myrtle!" He shouted at her, waving enthusiastically.

"To you as well, George." She replied, attempting to hide her smile. She was sure she was blushing again.

"How do you…nevermind." The half-giant began to ask, confused. He turned back to George. "What are yeh doin' in here and why's yehr hair purple?"

"I want to get something for Fred, but I need to be able to mix a potion into it without him noticing. This hair is compliments of him, actually." The Weasley boy reached for a plate of Christmas cookies.

"Then why're yeh grabbin' cookies? There's nothing' teh mix it in with and he'll be able to tell they're soggy. Here." Hagrid handed him a tray of cupcakes that had been sitting on a table behind him. "These will work better. He shouldn' be able to taste it in the frosting."

Myrtle was shocked. In all the years she had known Rubeus, she had never seen him get involved in a prank. In fact, it was one of the things she admired about him. During her time in Hogwarts, bullies were constantly pulling pranks on her, though most people just kept with the verbal insults. If she didn't know him as well as she did, she would have been horrified, but she knew Hagrid didn't have a clue as to what he was getting himself into. He would realize in a moment.

"Thanks, Hagrid!" George exclaimed, taking two of the cupcakes from the platter and placing them on a small plate. He then pulled a small vial full of a bright yellow potion from his pocket.

"Wait." Hagrid had finally realized his mistake. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that, George. Stop it." He tried to grab the plate of cupcakes, but George poured the potion onto the frosting before he could reach them.

"It's nothing bad, Hagrid." George said, a sneaky smile spreading across his lips. "I'm just trying to keep my brother warm."

"George, I've known yeh too long teh think yeh mean that in an innocent way." _He's right._ Myrtle thought. _I knew this boy was up to no good the minute I realized who he was. And I love it._ Her smile widened. The twin was attempting to convince Hagrid with a wide, innocent smile. "I still don' believe yeh. It won't be anything too bad, willit?"

"Of course not, Hagrid. He's my brother, after all. Now, if it were Umbridge…" He trailed off. Myrtle didn't blame him for that last part. She's seen the woman walking around the castle, her pink sweater and that bloody giggle of hers sickened Myrtle. The woman even pestered Hagrid about nothing at all, only because he wasn't completely human.

"Yeh can't talk like that." Hagrid only sounded half-heartedly serious. Unsurprisingly, the half-giant began to smile. "And if anyone asks, I didn't see you." He added.

"Of course not." George replied. "Oh, and Merry Christmas, Hagrid."

"Merry Christmas to yeh, too." Rubeus returned to the table Myrtle was still sitting at as the Weasley boy ran off.

"I like those boys. They cause mischief, which is entertaining, but they're not mean about it. But they also have no shame, so it's no fun to tease them." She told Hagrid, merrily.

"You gotta stop watching boys through 'em pipes, Myrtle." He replied, a smile forming in the corner of his mouth.

"Never." She answered. "I never got to see a boy while I was alive and now no one can stop me." It was true. No boys had even looked at her in interest. The way she saw it, she was forced to come onto them first. "Besides, it's entertaining to watch them blush." She quickly changed the subject, knowing it was bothering Hagrid. "Sir Nicholas is having a party today." She added. She had been meaning to tell him about it sooner, but it had slipped her mind. She had been too busy enjoying precious time with her best friend.

"Do yeh need to leave?" He asked, frowning.

"It's not until later. I probably won't go anyways. It's odd." She replied. She was still undecided. "Either way, I'm the youngest. I died the youngest and I've been dead the shortest amount of time. It's frustrating to be treated like a child."

Hagrid nodded. She was sure he would understand. He knew that he was only older than her by a few months, yet she will look fourteen for the rest of her existence. She knew he sympathized with her.

They continued talking, moving onto happier topics of conversation. After a while, Myrtle began zoning out and focused on her thoughts. She was proud of how far Hagrid had come in his life. Of course, it wasn't anything magnificent, but it was much better than what she was experiencing. She had been thrilled to learn he replaced Professor Kettleburn as the Care of Magical Creatures professor, keeping his job as Keeper of the Keys as well. She wondered what she would have gone on to be had she not been murdered at so young an age. When she was alive, she often talked to Hagrid about her confliction between mastering in Arithmancy or Transfiguration. She had been top of her class in every course she took, but those two had be her absolute favorites.

"Rubeus, how do you think our lives would have played out if Dumbledore hadn't brought Riddle to Hogwarts?" She was asking the question on her mind before she realized what she was doing.

Hagrid looked taken aback. He likely didn't know how to answer the question. Certainly Myrtle herself didn't know how to answer it. Of course, it didn't really matter. She was already dead and that was never going to change. No one can come back from the dead.

Hagrid took a sip of his tea. "Myrtle, I think even if Tom Riddle hadn't been in Hogwarts, we'd still be doin' this."

Myrtle flashed him an angry glare. "What do you mean? You think I'd have found a way to die anyway?" Did he enjoy her being dead? Perhaps she had been a burden on him, after all. Perhaps, being stuck inside the castle, he was able to sit inside his hut, away from her. Had she misunderstood their friendship all this time?

"O' course not!" Hagrid exclaimed hurriedly. "I think that you'd be alive an' brilliant an' doin' whate'er yeh wanted to." She began to ease up a little. "I meant that we'd still be friends and we'd still be spending our Christmas together. The important things wouldn' have changed a bit."

Myrtle smiled. So she had overreacted after all. That relieved her. She had a nasty habit of doing that. "I'd like to pretend our Christmas wouldn't be spent in the kitchens of Hogwarts."

Hagrid smiled back, relief flooding his face. "O' course not, we'd 'ave it at the house." Hagrid's eyes widened as he realized what he had said. Myrtle smiled. Perhaps, if she had lived…perhaps she would have had a future…a future with Hagrid. That was a new thought, and although she had already lost that chance, she enjoyed it nonetheless. She felt so happy at that moment that she decided to attend Sir Nicholas's party later that night. Maybe she could spread some Christmas cheer to the other ghosts of the castle. Until then, she was content on spending time with her best friend on the most wonderful Christmas she had ever had.


End file.
